FERRARI looks set for a repeat of last year's Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix rebound, posting the fastest times in Friday's pre-race practice to shrug off last weekend's disappointing results in Australia.

In 2008, Ferrari finished without a point in Australia and then dominated in  Malaysia.

After another pointless finish in Melbourne in F1's season opener last weekend, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa recorded the two best times Friday to hint at another immediate comeback.

Raikonnen's time of 1 minute, 35.707 seconds in today's afternoon session was faster than last year's pole-winning time set by teammate Felipe Massa, who was an eighth of a second behind his teammate.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, Williams' Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber of Red Bull followed the Ferrari pair.

Brawn drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, who finished 1-2 in last weekend's season-opening Australian GP, were sixth and seventh on the time sheets, ahead of Williams' Kazuki Nakajima.

Raikkonen's strong showing shook off doubts about the reliability of the Ferrari after a mishap in morning practice, when a short circuit in the KERS energy-storage device sent smoke began billowing into the cockpit and streaming from the rear of the car.

"We had felt that the situation here could be different to Melbourne, but it is still too early to say where we are up against the opposition," Raikkonen said.

"What we can be sure of is that when the car runs trouble-free, we are competitive."

On Melbourne's street circuit, Ferrari was badly hampered by degradation of its softer tires and an inability to get heat into its harder compounds, but Massa said there was better grip on the specialist racing surface of Sepang.

"Clearly looking at the time sheet today, there's a slight feeling of relief," the Brazilian said.

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